The Spirit of the Age.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God.” -

1 John 4:1

When I received this topic, I was quite excited. The more I thought about it, the less exciting it seemed. I can interpret the idea of the spirit of the age in a lot of different ways. I did my best to represent and flesh out what it means to me personally. Some people might argue that the spirit of the age is a force for good, creating equality among men. Some have no opinions about it. Then you get people like me… I’m convinced that the spirit of the age is a lot more sinister than we originally thought. I’m convinced that the spirit of the age is Satan himself. Let me explain.

Definition.

I’ve realized that as human beings, we are made up of four parts: body, mind, soul and spirit.

I never understood the distinction between soul and spirit. It’s something I struggled with intensely. Both intellectually and spiritually.

As an atheist, I was convinced that I had no soul, and that my experiences were all dictated by chemical reactions in my mind. Thus I favoured intellect above all other things. The moment I became Catholic again, the Holy Spirit filled my soul. I could feel the Spirit of God filling my innermost being. I can’t do it justice by word alone, but all I knew was that I had a soul, only it was so darkened by the spirit of the age, that I thought it non-existent. The moment the Spirit of God flowed through my being, I felt It light up and purify my darkened soul.

Thus I came to this conclusion: Our souls are a container.

Whatever you consume, believe, and will in this life will fill up your soul. Your soul is eternal. It belongs to God. This doesn’t mean that you can’t destroy and blaspheme it. It’s like the relationship between you and an intimate lover. There’s no guarantee that they’ll care for your heart with the respect and love it requires. They can shatter your heart with one action.

It’s the same between you and God.

God gives you His Spirit at Baptism. It fills your Soul. The moment you commit a mortal sin (a.k.a accepting the spirit of the age into your soul), you break the Spirit of God within you and shatter your union with God.

In short, accepting the spirit of the age into your soul causes you to ‘cheat’ on God.

“Every divine action begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Holy Spirit.” ~ Saint Basil

My hypothesis: Satan is the spirit of the age.

Let’s remind ourselves of Satan’s traits. He’s the prince of darkness, the father of lies, the deceiver. His downfall was his Pride.

Our Lord identified Satan in various ways. He called Satan the Prince of this World: Satan uses material things to distract us from God. He tempts us to adore the material, the sensual, and the powerful rather than to adore our Creator.

Jesus referred to Satan as the Father of Lies: The devil perverts the truth, as he did with Eve. He fills our minds with doubts. He provides all the rationalizations why something is right, even though our Lord and the Church teach it as wrong.

Satan is the Price of Darkness: He lurks about and is crafty. He fills us with the pessimistic thoughts, the bad thoughts, the hateful thoughts. He shows us all the hurts, frustration and troubles of this world and of our own lives hoping to lead us to despair.

Finally, Jesus called him the Murderer: The devil seeks to kill the grace of God in our soul, and to be dragged down to Hell with him.

“And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief:”- Ephesians 2:2

Archbishop Fulton Sheen provided us with a keen insight into Satan: “Do not mock the Gospels and say there is no Satan. Evil is too real in the world to say that. Do not say the idea of Satan is dead and gone. Satan never gains so many cohorts, as when, in his shrewdness, he spreads the rumor that he is long since dead. Do not reject the Gospel because it says the Savior was tempted. Satan always tempts the pure — the others are already his. Satan stations more devils on monastery walls than in dens of iniquity, for the latter offer no resistance. Do not say it is absurd that Satan should appear to our Lord, for Satan must always come close to the godly and the strong — the others succumb from a distance.”

The Devil doesn’t come to you with a red face and horns; he comes to you disguised as everything you ever wanted.

The Spirit of God vs. The spirit of the age.

The Spirit of God.

1. Humility

2. Life

3. Light

4. Responsibility

5. Unity

The Spirit of the age. (satan)

1. Pride

2. Death

3. Darkness

4. Selfishness

5. Isolation

The Spirit of the age is a lot more active in our times than ever before.

We have people advocating for abortion, assisted suicide, contraception, gay marriage, and sex-positivity.

These are all sins against life.

“My body, my choice.” We hear this all the time these days.

The devil is pulling souls down, he’s separating people from God. He’s filling people’s minds with thoughts of importance (the rise of social media has enlarged virtually everyone’s ego and sense of self-importance.) Social media is the devil’s playground. It’s a virtual space powered by the spirit of the age.

Never in history did the spirit of the age, Satan, have a portal to essentially every single human being on Earth. Our phones and technology are a portal connected to the spirit of the age.

• Social Media (Pride/Envy)
• Porn/Tinder (Lust)
• Netflix/YouTube (Sloth)
• Facebook/Internet forums/Video Games (Wrath)
• Amazon/Takealot/Trading Platforms (Greed)

“Now the law entered in, that sin might abound. And where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” — Romans 5:20

We all have free will. Our soul and all its facilities are in control by the will. The more ‘freedom’ we have, the more chances we have to get it right or wrong. Thus we need to view our world’s sinful state as a blessing in disguise. We have so much opportunity and chance for grace in our times. We just need to redirect our aim towards God, away from the flesh, every single day and shoot for perfection: “As your heavenly Father is perfect.”

(Rom 12:2), “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.”

The spirit of the age has always been for the flesh, for the empowerment of groups and minorities, and for the liberation from Godliness. This all points to the conclusion that the spirit of the age is most definitely Satan and his fallen angels.

Equality and Freedom

Our world, the spirit of the age, is reaching for ‘equality’ and ‘freedom’. This reminds me of a section out of ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’ by Friedrich Nietzsche. It’s titled “The Tarantulas”. Here’s an extract, read the rest on your own. It’s very insightful:

“Lo, this is the tarantula’s den! Would’st thou see the tarantula itself? Here hangeth its web: touch this, so that it may tremble.

There cometh the tarantula willingly: Welcome, tarantula! Black on thy back is thy triangle and symbol; and I know also what is in thy soul.

Revenge is in thy soul: wherever thou bitest, there ariseth black scab; with revenge, thy poison maketh the soul giddy!

Thus do I speak unto you in parable, ye who make the soul giddy, ye preachers of equality! Tarantulas are ye unto me, and secretly revengeful ones!

But I will soon bring your hiding-places to the light: therefore do I laugh in your face my laughter of the height.

Therefore do I tear at your web, that your rage may lure you out of your den of lies, and that your revenge may leap forth from behind your word “justice.”

Because, for man to be redeemed from revenge — that is for me the bridge to the highest hope, and a rainbow after long storms.

Otherwise, however, would the tarantulas have it. “Let it be very justice for the world to become full of the storms of our vengeance” — thus do they talk to one another.

“Vengeance will we use, and insult, against all who are not like us” — thus do the tarantula-hearts pledge themselves.

“And ‘Will to Equality’ — that itself shall henceforth be the name of virtue; and against all that hath power will we raise an outcry!”

Ye preachers of equality, the tyrant-frenzy of impotence crieth thus in you for “equality”: your most secret tyrant-longings disguise themselves thus in virtue-words!

Fretted conceit and suppressed envy — perhaps your fathers’ conceit and envy: in you break they forth as flame and frenzy of vengeance.

What the father hath hid cometh out in the son; and oft have I found in the son the father’s revealed secret.

Inspired ones they resemble: but it is not the heart that inspireth them — but vengeance. And when they become subtle and cold, it is not spirit, but envy, that maketh them so.

Their jealousy leadeth them also into thinkers’ paths; and this is the sign of their jealousy — they always go too far: so that their fatigue hath at last to go to sleep on the snow.

In all their lamentations soundeth vengeance, in all their eulogies is maleficence; and being judge seemeth to them bliss.

But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

They are people of bad race and lineage; out of their countenances peer the hangman and the sleuth-hound.

Distrust all those who talk much of their justice! Verily, in their souls not only honey is lacking.

And when they call themselves “the good and just,” forget not, that for them to be Pharisees, nothing is lacking but — power!”

You might wonder why I’m quoting a philosopher famous for this provocative statement:

“God is dead! And we have killed him.”

It’s because I don’t think people understood what he meant by that. They still don’t. Here are my opinions and insight into the quote above.

Nietzsche was a genius. He made an incredible prediction. Our society is falling into the hands of Satan every single day, our governments are legalizing more laws in the name of justice and equality, our people are getting more and more selfish and prideful, we’re holding “pride parades” to celebrate gay-rights and sexual liberation.

“Atheism, true ‘existential’ atheism burning with hatred of a seemingly unjust or unmerciful God, is a spiritual state; it is a real attempt to grapple with the true God.… Nietzsche, in calling himself Antichrist, proved thereby his intense hunger for Christ.” ~ Seraphim Rose

The Spirit of God is getting murdered by the day, and the people are killing Him.

Exactly as Nietzsche predicted in 1882.

We are killing God’s spirit and replacing it with the spirit of the age. Not to worry though, we all know who wins at the end. It’s just such a sad sight.

Conclusion:

The spirit of the age is the true Antichrist. It spreads like cancer through the fibers of time and space. It infects and attacks everything that’s good.

We’re so lucky to have a cure for this spiritual cancer.

The Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

When the Church gives in to the demands of the people, then the end times are nigh.

For now, stand strong in your faith, and wait until the Church corrects History.

Or whatever God wills.

Amen.